Around this time last year, Van Jones was getting pilloried by the left for declaring that President Donald Trump “became president of the United States in that moment, period” when he led a standing ovation for the widow of a Navy SEAL in his first speech to a joint session of Congress.
Tonight on CNN, immediately following Trump’s State of the Union address, it seemed as though Jones might be trying to make up for what was arguably a vast overstatement.
Jones began by calling Trump a “master salesperson” who “used all of those stories really well.” However, he added, the president “was selling sweet-tasting candy with poison in it.”
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“What he said about those young people, he implied—and he did it deliberately—that DREAMers are gang members,” Jones said. “Facts matter,” he added as Rick Santorum began to push back. “It’s completely unacceptable to take this issue, which—we have a moment now where 90 percent of the country agrees that these young people deserve a shot. And to smear these young people with the blood of—it’s wrong. It’s morally wrong!
“We are in a moment now where we could come together and get something done on a bipartisan basis,” Jones added, echoing the purported goal of Trump’s speech. “Republicans cannot continue to just smear these young DREAMers and associate them with gangs that they’re not a part of.”
During his speech, Trump pointedly declared, “Americans are dreamers, too,” a line that resonated strongly with his white nationalist supporters.
